Maxwell Physicist Brief. Scientific writings by James Maxwell




Many scientific publications and journals have recently published articles about achievements in physics and modern scientists, and publications about physicists of the past are rare. We would like to correct this situation and recall one of the outstanding physicists of the last century, James Clerk Maxwell. This is a famous English physicist, the father of classical electrodynamics, statistical physics and many other theories, physical formulas and inventions. Maxwell became the founder and first head of the Cavendish Laboratory.

As you know, Maxwell came from Edinburgh and was born in 1831 into a noble family, which had a relationship with the Scottish surname Clerks of Penicuik. Maxwell's childhood was spent on the Glenlar estate. James' ancestors were politicians, poets, musicians and scientists. Probably, a penchant for the sciences was inherited by him.

James was brought up without a mother (since she died when he was 8 years old) by a father who cared for the boy. The father wanted his son to study natural sciences. James immediately fell in love with technology and quickly developed practical skills. Little Maxwell took the first lessons at home with perseverance, since he did not like the harsh methods of education used by the teacher. Further training took place in an aristocratic school, where the boy showed great mathematical abilities. Maxwell especially liked geometry.

To many great people, geometry seemed to be an amazing science, and even at the age of 12 he spoke of a geometry textbook as a holy book. Maxwell loved geometry as well as other scientific luminaries, but he had a bad relationship with his schoolmates. They constantly came up with offensive nicknames for him and one of the reasons was his ridiculous clothes. Maxwell's father was considered an eccentric and bought his son clothes that made him smile.

Maxwell already in childhood showed great promise in the field of science. In 1814 he was sent to study at Edinburgh Grammar School, and in 1846 he was awarded a medal for merit in mathematics. His father was proud of his son and was given the opportunity to present one of his son's scientific papers before the board of the Edinburgh Academy of Sciences. This work concerned the mathematical calculations of elliptical figures. Then this work was called "On the drawing of ovals and on ovals with many tricks." It was written in 1846 and published to the masses in 1851.

Maxwell began to study physics intensively after transferring to the University of Edinburgh. Kalland, Forbes and others became his teachers. They immediately saw in James a high intellectual potential and an irresistible desire to study physics. Prior to this period, Maxwell had dealt with certain branches of physics and studied optics (he devoted a lot of time to the polarization of light and Newton's rings). In this he was helped by the famous physicist William Nicol, who at one time invented the prism.

Of course, other natural sciences were not alien to Maxwell, and he paid special attention to the study of philosophy, the history of science and aesthetics.

In 1850 he entered Cambridge, where Newton had once worked, and in 1854 received his academic degree. After that, his research touched the field of electricity and electrical installations. And in 1855 he was granted membership in the council of Trinity College.

Maxwell's first significant scientific work was On Faraday's Lines of Force, which appeared in 1855. At one time, Boltzmann said about Maxwell's article that this work has a deep meaning and shows how purposefully the young scientist approaches scientific work. Boltzmann believed that Maxwell not only understood the issues of natural science, but also made a special contribution to theoretical physics. Maxwell outlined in his article all the trends in the evolution of physics for the next few decades. Later, Kirchhoff, Mach and. came to the same conclusion.

How was the Cavendish Laboratory formed?

After completing his studies at Cambridge, James Maxwell remained here as a teacher and in 1860 he became a member of the Royal Society of London. At the same time, he moved to London, where he was given a position as head of the physics department at King's College, University of London. He worked in this position for 5 years.

In 1871, Maxwell returned to Cambridge and created the first laboratory in England for research in the field of physics, which was called the Cavendish Laboratory (in honor of Henry Cavendish). Maxwell devoted the rest of his life to the development of the laboratory, which became a real center of scientific research.

Little is known about Maxwell's life, as he kept no notes or diaries. He was a modest and shy person. Maxwell died at the age of 48 from cancer.

What is the scientific legacy of James Maxwell?

Maxwell's scientific activity covered many areas in physics: the theory of electromagnetic phenomena, the kinematic theory of gases, optics, the theory of elasticity, and others. The first thing that interested James Maxwell was the study and conduct of research in the physiology and physics of color vision.

Maxwell for the first time managed to get a color image, which was obtained due to the simultaneous projection of the red, green and blue range. By this, Maxwell once again proved to the world that the color image of vision is based on a three-component theory. This discovery marked the beginning of the creation of color photographs. In the period from 1857-1859, Maxwell was able to investigate the stability of Saturn's rings. His theory says that the rings of Saturn will be stable only under one condition - the unconnectedness of particles or bodies.

From 1855, Maxwell paid special attention to work in the field of electrodynamics. There are several scientific works of this period "On Faraday's lines of force", "On physical lines of force", "Treatise on electricity and magnetism" and "Dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field".

Maxwell and the theory of the electromagnetic field.

When Maxwell began to study electrical and magnetic phenomena, many of them were already well studied. Was created Coulomb's law, Ampère's law, it was also proved that magnetic interactions are connected by the action of electric charges. Many scientists of that time were supporters of the long-range theory, which states that the interaction occurs instantly and in empty space.

The main role in the theory of short-range action was played by the studies of Michael Faraday (30s of the 19th century). Faraday argued that the nature of the electric charge is based on the surrounding electric field. The field of one charge is connected with the neighboring one in two directions. The currents interact with the help of a magnetic field. According to Faraday, magnetic and electric fields are described by him in the form of lines of force, which are elastic lines in a hypothetical medium - in the ether.

Maxwell supported Faraday's theory of the existence of electromagnetic fields, that is, he was a supporter of emerging processes around charge and current.

Maxwell explained Faraday's ideas in a mathematical form, which physics really needed. With the introduction of the field concept, the laws of Coulomb and Ampere became more convincing and deeply meaningful. In the concept of electromagnetic induction, Maxwell was able to consider the properties of the field itself. Under the action of an alternating magnetic field in empty space, an electric field with closed lines of force is generated. This phenomenon is called a vortex electric field.

Maxwell's next discovery was that an alternating electric field could generate a magnetic field, much like an ordinary electric current. This theory was called the displacement current hypothesis. In the future, Maxwell expressed the behavior of electromagnetic fields in his equations.


Reference. Maxwell's equations are equations describing electromagnetic phenomena in various media and vacuum space, and also refer to classical macroscopic electrodynamics. This is a logical conclusion drawn from experiments based on the laws of electrical and magnetic phenomena.
The main conclusion of Maxwell's equations is the finiteness of the propagation of electrical and magnetic interactions, which distinguished the theory of short-range interaction and the theory of long-range interaction. Velocity characteristics approached the speed of light 300,000 km/s. This gave Maxwell reason to argue that light is a phenomenon associated with the action of electromagnetic waves.

Molecular-kinetic theory of Maxwell's gases.

Maxwell contributed to the study of molecular kinetic theory (now this science is called statistical mechanics). Maxwell was the first to come up with the idea of ​​the statistical nature of the laws of nature. He created the law of distribution of molecules by speeds, and he also managed to calculate the viscosity of gases in relation to speed indicators and the mean free path of gas molecules. Also, thanks to the work of Maxwell, we have a number of thermodynamic relations.

Reference. The Maxwell distribution is a theory of the velocity distribution of the molecules of a system under conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium. Thermodynamic equilibrium is a condition for the translational motion of molecules described by the laws of classical dynamics.

Maxwell had many scientific works that were published: "The Theory of Heat", "Matter and Motion", "Electricity in Elementary Presentation" and others. Maxwell not only moved science into the period, but was also interested in its history. At one time he managed to publish the works of G. Cavendish, which he supplemented with his comments.

What will the world remember about James Clerk Maxwell?

Maxwell was active in the study of electromagnetic fields. His theory of their existence did not receive worldwide recognition until a decade after his death.

Maxwell was the first to classify matter and assign its own laws to each, which were not reduced to the laws of Newtonian mechanics.

Many scientists have written about Maxwell. The physicist R. Feynman said about him that Maxwell, who discovered the laws of electrodynamics, looked through the centuries into the future.

Epilogue. James Clerk Maxwell died November 5, 1879 in Cambridge. He was buried in a small Scottish village near his favorite church, which is located not far from his family estate.

Biography

Born in the family of a Scottish nobleman from a noble family of Clerks (Clerks).

He studied first at the Edinburgh Academy, the University of Edinburgh (1847-1850), then at the University of Cambridge (1850-1854) (Peterhouse and Trinity College).

Scientific activity

Maxwell completed his first scientific work while still at school, having come up with a simple way to draw oval shapes. This work was presented at a meeting of the Royal Society and even published in its Proceedings. When he was a member of the board of Trinity College, he was engaged in experiments on color theory, speaking as a successor to Jung's theory and Helmholtz's theory of the three primary colors. In experiments on mixing colors, Maxwell used a special top, the disk of which was divided into sectors painted in different colors (Maxwell's disk). When the spinning top rotated quickly, the colors merged: if the disk was painted over in the way the colors of the spectrum are located, it seemed white; if one half of it was painted red and the other half yellow, it appeared orange; mixing blue and yellow gave the impression of green. In 1860, Maxwell was awarded the Rumfoord Medal for his work on color perception and optics.

One of Maxwell's first works was his kinetic theory of gases. In 1859, the scientist made a presentation at a meeting of the British Association, in which he cited the distribution of molecules by velocities (Maxwellian distribution). Maxwell developed the ideas of his predecessor in the development of the kinetic theory of gases R. Clausius, who introduced the concept of "mean mean free path". Maxwell proceeded from the idea of ​​a gas as an ensemble of perfectly elastic balls moving randomly in a closed space. Balls (molecules) can be divided into groups according to their velocities, while in the stationary state the number of molecules in each group remains constant, although they can leave the groups and enter them. From such a consideration it followed that "particles are distributed according to velocities according to the same law according to which observation errors are distributed in the theory of the least squares method, that is, in accordance with Gaussian statistics." As part of his theory, Maxwell explained Avogadro's law, diffusion, heat conduction, internal friction (transport theory). In 1867 he showed the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics ("Maxwell's demon").

In 1831, the year Maxwell was born, M. Faraday carried out the classic experiments that led him to the discovery of electromagnetic induction. Maxwell began to study electricity and magnetism about 20 years later, when there were two views on the nature of electric and magnetic effects. Scientists such as A. M. Ampere and F. Neumann adhered to the concept of long-range action, considering electromagnetic forces as an analogue of gravitational attraction between two masses. Faraday was a proponent of the idea of ​​lines of force that connect positive and negative electric charges, or the north and south poles of a magnet. The lines of force fill the entire surrounding space (field, in Faraday's terminology) and determine the electrical and magnetic interactions. Following Faraday, Maxwell developed a hydrodynamic model of lines of force and expressed the then known relations of electrodynamics in a mathematical language corresponding to Faraday's mechanical models. The main results of this study are reflected in the work "Faraday lines of force" ( Faraday's Lines of Force, 1857). In 1860-1865, Maxwell created the theory of the electromagnetic field, which he formulated as a system of equations (Maxwell's equations) describing the basic laws of electromagnetic phenomena: the 1st equation expressed Faraday's electromagnetic induction; 2nd - magnetoelectric induction, discovered by Maxwell and based on the concepts of displacement currents; 3rd - the law of conservation of the amount of electricity; 4th - vortex nature of the magnetic field.

Continuing to develop these ideas, Maxwell came to the conclusion that any changes in the electric and magnetic fields must cause changes in the lines of force penetrating the surrounding space, that is, there must be impulses (or waves) propagating in the medium. The speed of propagation of these waves (electromagnetic disturbance) depends on the dielectric and magnetic permeability of the medium and is equal to the ratio of the electromagnetic unit to the electrostatic unit. According to Maxwell and other researchers, this ratio is 3.4 * 10 10 cm / s, which is close to the speed of light, measured seven years earlier by the French physicist A. Fizeau. In October 1861, Maxwell informed Faraday of his discovery that light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagating in a non-conductive medium, that is, a kind of electromagnetic waves. This final stage of research is outlined in Maxwell's work Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, 1864, and the famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873) summed up his work on electrodynamics.

Other achievements and inventions

Bibliography

Notes

Literature

Compositions

  • Maxwell J.K. Theory of heat. SPb., 1888.
  • Maxwell J.K. Speeches and Articles. M.–L.: 1940.
  • Maxwell JK Selected works on the theory of the electromagnetic field. M.: Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1954.
  • Maxwell J.K. Treatise on electricity and magnetism. In 2 volumes. Moscow: Nauka, 1989. Volume 1. Volume 2.

Links

  • John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. Maxwell, James Clerk in the MacTutor archive

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See what "James Maxwell" is in other dictionaries:

    James Clerk Maxwell Date of birth: June 13, 1831 Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland Date of death: November 5, 1879 Place of death ... Wikipedia

    James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell Date of birth: June 13, 1831 Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland Date of death: November 5, 1879 Place of death ... Wikipedia

    James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell Date of birth: June 13, 1831 Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland Date of death: November 5, 1879 Place of death ... Wikipedia

    - (June 13, 1831 Edinburgh, November 5, 1879, Cambridge), English physicist, creator of classical electrodynamics, one of the founders of statistical physics, founder of one of the world's largest scientific centers at the end of the 19th beginning. 20th century Cavendish ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    Maxwell, James Clerk- James Clerk Maxwell. MAXWELL James Clerk (1831-79), English physicist, creator of classical electrodynamics, one of the founders of statistical physics. He created the theory of the electromagnetic field (Maxwell's equations), which describes ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

The most important factor in changing the face of the world is the expansion of the horizons of scientific knowledge. A key feature in the development of science of this period of time is the widespread use of electricity in all branches of production. And people could no longer refuse to use electricity, feeling its significant benefits. At this time, scientists began to closely study electromagnetic waves and their effect on various materials.

A great achievement of science in the 19th century. was the electromagnetic theory of light put forward by the English scientist D. Maxwell (1865), which summarized the research and theoretical conclusions of many physicists from different countries in the fields of electromagnetism, thermodynamics and optics.

Maxwell is well known for having formulated four equations which were an expression of the basic laws of electricity and magnetism. These two areas had been extensively researched prior to Maxwell over the years, and it was well known that they were interrelated. However, although various laws of electricity had already been discovered and they were true for specific conditions, no general and uniform theory existed before Maxwell.

D. Maxwell came to the idea of ​​the unity and interconnection of electric and magnetic fields, created on this basis the theory of the electromagnetic field, according to which, having arisen at any point in space, the electromagnetic field propagates in it at a speed equal to the speed of light. Thus, he established the connection between light phenomena and electromagnetism.

In his four equations, short but rather complex, Maxwell was able to accurately describe the behavior and interaction of electric and magnetic fields. Thus, he transformed this complex phenomenon into a single, understandable theory. Maxwell's equations have been widely used in the last century both in theoretical and applied sciences. The main advantage of Maxwell's equations was that they are general equations applicable under all circumstances. All previously known laws of electricity and magnetism can be derived from Maxwell's equations, as well as many other previously unknown results.

The most important of these results were derived by Maxwell himself. From his equations, we can conclude that there is a periodic oscillation of the electromagnetic field. Having begun, such oscillations, called electromagnetic waves, will propagate in space. From his equations, Maxwell was able to deduce that the speed of such electromagnetic waves would be approximately 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second. Maxwell saw that this speed was equal to the speed of light. From this he drew the correct conclusion that light itself consists of electromagnetic waves. Thus, Maxwell's equations are not only the basic laws of electricity and magnetism, they are the basic laws of optics. Indeed, all previously known laws of optics can be deduced from his equations, just like previously unknown results and relationships. Visible light is not only a possible form of electromagnetic radiation.

Maxwell's equations showed that there could be other electromagnetic waves that differ from visible light in wavelength and frequency. These theoretical conclusions were subsequently amply confirmed by Heinrich Hertz, who was able to both create and straighten invisible waves, the existence of which Maxwell predicted.

For the first time in practice, the German physicist G. Hertz (1883) managed to observe the propagation of electromagnetic waves. He also determined that the speed of their propagation is 300 thousand km / s. Paradoxically, he believed that electromagnetic waves would have no practical application. And a few years later, on the basis of this discovery, A.S. Popov used them to transmit the world's first radiogram. It consisted of only two words: "Heinrich Hertz."

Today we successfully use them for television. X-rays, gamma rays, infrared rays, ultraviolet rays are another example of electromagnetic radiation. All this can be studied through Maxwell's equations. Although Maxwell achieved recognition mainly for his spectacular contributions to electromagnetism and optics, he also made contributions to other areas of science, including astronomical theory and thermodynamics (the study of heat). The subject of his special interest was the kinetic theory of gases. Maxwell realized that not all gas molecules move at the same speed. Some molecules move slower, others move faster, and some move at very high speeds. Maxwell derived a formula that determines which particle of a molecule of a given gas will move at any given speed. This formula, called the "Maxwell distribution", is widely used in scientific equations and has significant applications in many areas of physics.

This invention became the basis for modern technologies for wireless transmission of information, radio and television, including all types of mobile communications, which are based on the principle of data transmission by means of electromagnetic waves. After experimental confirmation of the reality of the electromagnetic field, a fundamental scientific discovery was made: there are different types of matter, and each of them has its own laws that cannot be reduced to the laws of Newtonian mechanics.

The American physicist R. Feynman said excellently about the role of Maxwell in the development of science: “In the history of mankind (if you look at it, say, in ten thousand years), the most significant event of the nineteenth century will undoubtedly be the discovery by Maxwell of the laws of electrodynamics. Against the background of this important scientific discovery, the American Civil War in the same decade will look like a provincial incident.

an- Endangered peoples of Russia: Russians

What kind of upbringing is the Studio of 3 million in St. Petersburg, even if 50tr is 5 years without eating and not paying%, now explain how many children you will make on 24 sq m? And what are you going to use them for? Now the courts + the growth of HIV have overtaken Africa + norkamans + low wages + lack of normally paid work + increase in the retirement age + guest workers. Here is the result. What is the problem at the top? Ukraine, which was pissed away, and there is nothing more to discuss. Verbalism write all sorts of garbage, apparently by order !!

Vit - What happened to Jesus after the resurrection?

))) Only the material body can be resurrected. The human soul is immortal. Therefore, the body cannot be raised anywhere. This is the dust of the earth. It remains on earth.

dowlet- What people are the true heir of the Volga Bulgaria

Let's stick to the facts! TURKMEN AND BULGARIANS: HISTORICAL PARALLELS AND CROSSINGS On the banks of the Volga and Kama in the Middle Ages there was an independent kingdom - Volga Bulgaria (VII-XII centuries), which existed simultaneously with the state of the Danube Bulgarians. “What do the Bulgarians have to do with the Turkmens?!”, you ask yourself. The fact is that in those distant times the fates of the ancestors of the Turkmens and Bulgarians intersected more than once. The first information about the Bulgarians appears in the IV century. AD in the era of the Huns (ancestors of the Turkmen-Oguzes), when they, being in their composition, advanced from Central Asia to Eastern Europe. The names of their tribes are known - Onogur and Kutrigur. The well-known Russian Turkologist N.A. Baskakov believes that the word "ogur" is the Bulgarian dialect form of the word "Oguz", and he specifically singles out the "Oghuz-Bulgarian" subgroup of the Turkic languages ​​​​(modern Gagauz, Balkan Turks), which are characterized by the substitution of the consonant " z" to "r" (compare the Turkmen ethnonyms "ogres", "ogurjali"). After the collapse of the Central Asian empire of the Huns, the Bulgarians became part of the state of the Gök-Turkmen (Old Turkic Empire), and soon, after the collapse of this empire into two states (Western and Eastern Khanates), the Bulgarians joined the Western Khanate, in which the Oguzes played the leading role. When this khanate in the 7th century. lost its power and after some time disintegrated, in its place two new associations arose - the Khazar (in the Caspian Sea) and the Bulgarian (in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov). In the "Chronicle" of John of Nikius (7th century) it is indicated that Khan Kubrat from the Onogur tribe, the nephew of the Turkmen-Oguz prince Orkhan, became the head of the Bulgarians. Kubrat Khan in 632 united numerous Bulgarian families under his rule and created a state called Great Bulgaria. But after the death of Kubrat (in the 20s of the 8th century), this state fell apart. According to Nicephorus, the five sons of Kubrat, "...caring little about the father's will, after a short time separated from each other, and each of them separated his own part of the people." The Khazars were not slow to take advantage of this and attacked the nearest horde of Kubrat's eldest son Batbai. Deciding to save his families, one of the brothers goes to the Turkic Avars, the other goes under the protection of the Byzantines. The Bulgarian tribes were dispersed. The third son of Kubrat Khan Asparuh migrated to the Balkans and, subduing the Slavs, created the state of the Danube Bulgarians. Another part of the Bulgarian tribes moved to the Volga and formed the state of the Volga Bolgars. Among the Bulgarian tribes in the Volga region, tribes are mentioned: Savir, Avars, Abdal. If we compare these Bulgarian ethnonyms with modern Turkmen ones, then the following becomes clear. The Abdals, who have an ancient Ephtalite origin, still exist as part of the Turkmens - the Turkmen Abdals live in Astrakhan and Stavropol (Russian Federation), and the Abdal clan as part of the Turkmen-Chovdurs settled in the Dashoguz velayat (Turkmenistan). The Savirs, who were once part of the Xiongnu union, were later part of the Bulgarians, Khazars and Oghuz Turkmens. It was preserved as an ethnonym among the Geklens (genus Suvar) and Stavropol Chovdurs (genus Savarjaly). In the 8th century The sources record the following tribes of the Volga Bulgarians: Chakar, Kuvayar, Yupan, Okhsun, Kurigir, Eskil, Sivan. It is noteworthy that the names of the Bulgarian tribes Kurigir can be identified with the name of the Oguz-Turkmen medieval tribe Karkyr; Sivan - with the Gek-Turkmen Suvan and the modern Turkmen family Suvan (Ersars); chakar - from chekir (childbirth among the Ersars, geklen, salyr, sakar). According to the linguist S. Ataniyazov, the Eskil tribe was still part of the White Huns (Ephthalites). The name of this tribe can be identified with the name of the Turkmen ethnonym Eski. Kuvayar can be compared with kavars. Archaeologist S.P. Tolstov traces them back to the Khorezmians (through Hvar, Khovar). Kavars courageously fought with the Byzantines and as part of the Magyars (Hungarians). Language data are also noteworthy. Despite the fact that the modern Balkan Bulgarians, while retaining the Turkic ethnonym, merged with the Slavs and adopted their language back in the Middle Ages, many Turkic words are found in the Bulgarian language that have common roots with the words of the modern Turkmen language. Let's take a look at some of them. BULGARIAN - TURKMEN ama - but, however, emma - but, however, aslan - lion arslan - lion artyk - with excess artyk - with excess achik - obvious, obvious achyk - open, obvious, obvious badjana - brother-in-law badja - brother-in-law bayrak - banner baydak - banner bash - the first, the main bash - the main burek - pie berek - dumplings kavarma - meat dish kovurma - fried meat kyose - beardless spit - beardless kyukyurt - sulfur kukurt - sulfur makam - melody mukam - folk melody sap - pen sap - pen eski - old eski - old. This is just a superficial comparison of the two languages. There is no doubt that a purely linguistic study will provide excellent material for comparing the historical paths of the two peoples. The conclusions of Russian philologists are extremely interesting. For example, A.P. Kovalevsky identifies the ethnonym "Bolgars", "Bulgars" with the medieval Oguz tribe Burkaz, by analogy "Bolgars" - "Borgar" - "Borkaz". V.V. Polosin, who specially studied the ethnonym "Bulgarians", determined that the Arabic script gives four similar spellings - Bulgar, Bulkar, Burgaz, Burudzhan. He believes that all these words are the same name of the people, not only by spelling, but also by indicating the geographical location of the tribes, and believes that the correctly read form is "Burgaz", as well as the form "Bulgars" that is often found in historical sources, are dialect forms of the common ancient ethnonym "Burgar", mentioned by the Byzantine author Zakaria Rhetor (VI century). The dialectal changes "Burgar" - "Bulgar" and "Burgar" - "Burgaz" can be explained by the historical phonetics of the Turkic languages. So, the ethnonym "Bulgarians" itself is found among the Turkmen people, who still have the genus Burkaz (as part of the Tekins). It is no coincidence that the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan (X century) noted that the Turkmen-Oguz commander Etrek Katagan called the king of the Volga Bulgarians Almush his son-in-law. At the beginning of the 13th century, when the Mongols destroyed Volga Bulgaria, a large number of Bulgarians, as well as Oguzes and Kipchaks, not wanting to obey the invaders, found refuge in Danube Bulgaria, Hungary and the Lithuanian principality. Of course, even before the invasion of the Mongols, the Oguz-Kipchak clans penetrated into Bulgaria. Having occupied large pastures on the lower Danube, Dobruja and in the north-east of Bulgaria, they actively supported the Bulgarians in the struggle against their enemies. When in the 70s. 12th century Since the Bulgarian people rose to fight the Byzantine Empire, the movement was led by two brothers - the Oguz-Kypchak khans Asen and Peter. After the victory, Asen I became the king of Bulgaria (1187). This is how the dynasty of Bulgarian kings Autumn appeared, the name of the ancestor of which is etymologically associated with the founder of the Gek-Turkmen empire Ashina (Asen-shad). The Bulgarians freely let into their territory the Oguzes, Kipchaks, their Muslim relatives, the Volga Bulgarians, who had left the Mongols. The common origin and compassion for the brothers from the East who were in trouble turned out to be stronger than the difference in faith. Part of the Volga Bulgarians remained in their former places, having accepted the citizenship of the Mongols. Researchers of the Bulgarian burials on the Volga V.F. Gening and A.Kh. Khalikov note that the state of the Volga Bolgars included Bashkirs, Pechenegs, and Oguzes. Thus, there was a process of ethnic interpenetration of the Oguzes and the Bulgarians. Interestingly, a tombstone (XIV century) with the inscription: "Torkman Mohammed, son of Yakub" was found in the former Bulgarian cemetery in the Volga region. The Turkic people of the Bulgarians played a big role in the history of the Volga region, the Dnieper region, the North Caucasus, and the Balkans. According to the researchers, it was the Bulgarians, together with the Oghuz, who were the ancestors of the North Caucasian Turkic-Bulgarians. The Bulgarians became part of the Kazan Tatars, Chuvash, Mishars, Bashkirs. Now you can add: and Turkmen! In 1886 a group of officers emigrated to the Russian Empire. One of them, Georgy Vazov, who had a military engineering education, was sent to Turkmenistan, where railway lines were being laid at that time. For ten years G. Vazov worked in a sunny country, and in 1897 he returned to Bulgaria. In 1912, one of the streets in the city of Serhetabat (formerly the city of Kushka) was named after G. Vazov. In Turkmenistan, G. Vazov, who was then in the rank of captain, had many friends. One of them was a lieutenant - a Turkmen Nikolai Yomudsky (a future hero of the First World War). Before G. Vazov left for Bulgaria, N. Yomudsky presented him with an Ottoman saber and pistol. In 1913, General G. Vazov was appointed Minister of War of Bulgaria. The gifts of the Turkmen friend were kept in the family of the Bulgarian general as priceless relics. In November 2000, the expert commission of the Military History Museum in Sofia identified them and made a decision: "The weapon has a collection value." Here again the connecting thread between Turkmenistan and Bulgaria is stretched Ovez GUNDOGDIYEV (Turkmenistan), Bogdan OGARCHINSKY (Bulgaria)

James Clark Maxwell lived only 48 years, but his contribution to mathematics, physics and mechanics cannot be overestimated. Albert Einstein himself stated that he owed the theory of relativity to Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic field.

In Edinburgh, on India Street, there is a house on the wall of which a memorial plaque hangs:
"James Clark Maxwell
Naturalist
Born here June 13, 1831."

The future great scientist belonged to an old noble family and spent most of his childhood on his father's estate, Middleby, located in South Scotland. He grew up as a curious and active child, and even then his relatives noted that his favorite questions were: "How to do this?" and "How does it happen?".

When James was ten, by decision of the family, he entered the Edinburgh Academy, where he studied diligently, although without showing any special talents. However, fascinated by geometry, Maxwell invented a new way to draw ovals. The content of his work on the geometry of oval curves was set forth in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for 1846. The author was then only fourteen years old. At sixteen, Maxwell went to the University of Edinburgh, choosing physics and mathematics as his main subjects. In addition, he became interested in the problems of philosophy, took courses in logic and metaphysics.

The already mentioned Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh published two more essays by a talented student - on rolling curves and on the elastic properties of solids. The latter topic was important for structural mechanics.

After studying in Edinburgh, the nineteen-year-old Maxwell moved to the University of Cambridge, first to St. Peter's College, then to the more prestigious Trinity College. The study of mathematics there was delivered at a deeper level, and the requirements for students are noticeably higher than in Edinburgh. Despite this, Maxwell managed to score second in a public three-stage math exam for a bachelor's degree.

In Cambridge, Maxwell talked a lot with different people, joined the club of the apostles, which consisted of 12 members, united by the breadth and originality of thinking. He participated in the activities of the Workers' College, created for the education of ordinary people, and lectured there.

In the autumn of 1855, when Maxwell finished his studies, he was admitted to the College of the Holy Trinity and offered to stay to teach. A little later, he entered the Royal Society of Edinburgh - the national scientific association of Scotland. In 1856, Maxwell left Cambridge for a professorship at Marischal College in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Befriending the headmaster of the college, Reverend Daniel Dewar, Maxwell met his daughter Catherine Mary. They announced their engagement at the end of the winter of 1858, and got married in June. According to the biographer and friend of the scientist Lewis Campbell, their marriage was an example of incredible devotion. It is known that Katherine helped her husband in laboratory research.

In general, the Aberdeen period was very fruitful in Maxwell's life. While still in Cambridge, he began to study the structure of the rings of Saturn, and in 1859 his monograph was published, where he proved that they are solid bodies revolving around the planet. At the same time, the scientist wrote an article "Explanations to the dynamic theory of gases", in which he derived a function that reflects the distribution of gas molecules depending on their speed, later called the Maxwell distribution. This was one of the first examples of statistical laws that describe the behavior of not one object or individual particle, but the behavior of many objects or particles. The "Maxwell's demon" invented by the researcher later - a thought experiment in which some intelligent incorporeal creature separates gas molecules by speed - demonstrated the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics.

In 1860, several colleges were merged into the University of Aberdeen and some of the departments were abolished. The young professor Maxwell was also laid off. But he did not remain without work for long, almost immediately he was invited to teach at King's College London, where he stayed for the next five years.

In the same year, at a meeting of the British Association, the scientist read a report on his developments regarding the perception of color, for which he later received the Rumfoord Medal from the Royal Society of London. Proving the correctness of his own theory of color, Maxwell presented to the public a novelty that struck her imagination - a color photograph. Before him, no one could get it.

In 1861, Maxwell was appointed to the Standards Committee, set up to determine the main electrical units.

In addition, Maxwell did not refuse to study the elasticity of solids and was awarded the Keith Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his results.

While working at King's College London, Maxwell completed his theory of the electromagnetic field. The very idea of ​​the field was proposed by the famous physicist Michael Faraday, but his knowledge was not enough to present his discovery in the language of formulas. The mathematical description of electromagnetic fields became the main scientific problem for Maxwell. Based on the method of analogies, thanks to which the similarity between electrical interaction and heat transfer in a solid body was recorded, the scientist transferred the data of heat studies to electricity and was the first to be able to mathematically substantiate the transfer of electrical action in a medium.

The year 1873 was marked by the release of the "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism", whose significance is comparable to that of Newton's "Mathematical Principles of Philosophy". With the help of equations, Maxwell described electromagnetic phenomena, concluded that there are electromagnetic waves, that they propagate at the speed of light, and that light itself has an electromagnetic nature.

The "Treatise" was published when Maxwell had already been the head of the physical laboratory of the University of Cambridge for two years (since 1871), whose creation meant recognition in the scientific community of the great importance of the experimental approach to research.

Maxwell saw the popularization of science as an equally significant task. To do this, he wrote articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica, a work where he tried to explain in simple language the basic concepts of matter, motion, electricity, atoms and molecules.

In 1879, Maxwell's health deteriorated greatly. He knew that he was seriously ill, and his diagnosis was cancer. Realizing that he was doomed, he courageously endured pain and calmly met death, which occurred on November 5, 1879.

Although Maxwell's works received a worthy assessment during the scientist's lifetime, their real significance became clear only years later, when in the 20th century the concept of the field was firmly entrenched in scientific use, and Albert Einstein declared that Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic field preceded his theory of relativity.

The memory of the scientist is immortalized in the names of one of the buildings of the University of Edinburgh, the main building and concert hall of the University of Salford, the James Clerk Maxwell Center of the Edinburgh Academy. Streets named after him can be found in Aberdeen and Cambridge. In Westminster Abbey there is a memorial plaque dedicated to Maxwell, and visitors to the art gallery of the University of Aberdeen can see the bust of the scientist. In 2008, a bronze monument to Maxwell was erected in Edinburgh.

Many organizations and awards are also associated with Maxwell's name. The Physics Laboratory, which he directed, established a scholarship for the most able graduate students. The British Institute of Physics presents a medal and the Maxwell Prize to young physicists who have made a significant contribution to science. The University of London has a Maxwell Professorship and a Maxwell Student Society. Created in 1977, the Maxwell Foundation organizes conferences in physics and mathematics.

Along with recognition, Maxwell was named the most famous Scottish scientist in a 2006 poll, all testifying to the great role he played in the history of science.